WebiMax Blog

Statistics Show SMB Owners Need to Trend Well on Google

Among all the various search engines for which SEOs develop, it's Google that time and time again gets the most attention from online marketing firms. Between continual updates to its search algorithm and ongoing releases for new user apps, the world's biggest search engine company has truly become a force to be reckoned with. While competitors may try to get the edge on the company, Google's current market share puts it well ahead of the pack.

According to a recent survey from comScore, Google controls over two-thirds of the search engine market at this point. Following in second and third place are Microsoft and Yahoo which saw around 15% of the average monthly search engine traffic each. While even a small percent of several hundred million users is nothing to scoff at, Bing and other search engine activity just pale in comparison to Google's current user base. It's because of this immense number of monthly users that small business owners need to focus on becoming better ranked in the Google SERPs.

Getting Friendlier with Google It's a given that a company will want to have a strong showing on Google's result pages, but not everyone has the sort of SEO-focused behaviors in place necessary to rank highly. Although search engine-friendly website development and original content generation are top priorities for many web-savvy companies, most businesses drop the ball when it comes to establishing themselves with trending Google keywords and topics.

The Right Keywords at the Right Time While it's incredibly difficult for anyone to know for certain what needs to be done for a page to secure the number one SERP spot on Google, many internet advertisers recommend timely keyword selection for their clients' websites. Since programs such as Google Webmaster Tools allow anyone to look up trending search terms and popular keywords, optimizing a webpage's focused terms towards more effective ones is quite easy.

If a business owner finds that certain terms relevant to his or her industry are tracking better than others, improving a site's ranking may be as simple as substituting a handful of keywords. Of course, it's important to remember to never implement irrelevant keywords. More than ever, Google is cracking down on those sites that try to improve their rankings through keyword stuffing. SMB owners should only put in popular keywords when they are 100% relevant to the page's existent content.

A Sociable Relationship with Google As time goes on, Google+ is playing an increasingly more pivotal role in the company's search engine. A few months ago, Google rolled out "Search, plus your World," an initiative that includes content from Google+ in the main search engine results for those network users who are logged in. Due to Search+, more companies are becoming involved with the company's social network in hopes that it will help their presence in the SERPs.

While the effectiveness of a strong Google+ campaign in yielding better traffic through organic rankings is still unproven, it's something that many companies are actively pursuing. Even if activity on Google+ doesn't result in significantly better SERP showings, the social media strength gained through a successful campaign on the network is still worth the while. Since Google+ is very much an up-and-coming social media network, more businesses should try to establish themselves on it to begin with.

As long as Google maintains its current growth and overall success, it will continue to be a major player in the SEO community. As such, it's vital that businesses focus on the search engine as the primary source of their organic linkbuilding efforts. Should readers have any questions regarding how to get Google to notice their company, I can be contacted at jwersits@webimax.com for information.